I Heart Vacation

Okay, we have been back from our wonderful vacation for over a week now and I am just getting around to posting. You will see why in a minute. I took almost 200 pictures and had to edit them and get them down to just a relative few to post (I said relative...it is still a lot), and then post them and write about them. Oh, and I had to get back to normal life. : ) We had such a fun time in Mexico and I really do love vacations. It was great to spend so much time together and have a break from work and life.

We left on a Wednesday at 5 am. We had put the boys to bed earlier the night before and in the clothes they would wear on the airplane thinking we would just wake them up and put them in the car. They were so excited though, that when our alarm went off at 4:15 to get ready I came out of the bathroom to find them both in our room so excited to go. The flights went alright, as well as can be expected with 3 three kids under 5 I guess. By the time we got there, and got through the immigration line, and rode the bus to our resort they were so glad to be there. Our resort was so nice. I was a little worried because we had never been there and I was just hoping it would be clean and comfortable and the food would be pretty good. It was definitely better than I thought it might be. When we first got there there was someone waiting to get our bags and take them to our room and another person with cold, wet lavender scented washcloths to put on our sweaty faces. (it is so humid there, especially compared to what we are used to) It was such a nice place and such a fun week. Now without further ado, here are the bazillion pictures with my oh-so -wonderful commentary...

The view from the sidewalk near our rooms. Paradise.

The bathtub in our room, the boys loved it! There was this jacuzzi tub and then a big steam shower in the bathroom which was also a big hit.

Ashlyn relaxing on one of the beds in our room.

The main part of the bathroom. The jacuzzi was too big for Ashlyn so she bathed in the sink which was just a perfect size for her.
The porch right off our room. I kept thinking how nice it would have been to sit out there and read a good book, but with three kids to take care of, it was only a thought. : )

Here are Tim and I the first day we got there, and yes we did get some sun. We were at one of the many, many pools around the resort with the beautiful beach behind us.

This is what the boys did while we were there, swim, swim and swim some more. Tim got to go on an excursion to Tulum (I obviously don't know how to spell that) with some of my siblings. He got to see the ruins and said it was really cool... not cool enough to take pictures of though apparently, since we don't have any. : )

Ashlyn was such a good little traveler. She has started smiling more and more. Here is she is ready to go to the pool. (She and I spent a lot of time in the shade)

The food was really good. They had something like 10 different restaurants to chose from. Here is Braxton enjoying his cream puff, it used to be shaped like a swan.

There was also a putt-putt golf course there so one night we headed over to do that. Jace and Braxton liked it but we didn't see any Tiger Woods skill yet : ) Jace was getting the hang of it but Braxton used his club more like a weapon.

As part of the stay we got to go to the water park Wet N' Wild there. It was a lot of fun and the had some good rides. Jace was tall enough to go on some of the really big rides and he LOVED them. He also loved these little bumper boats that squirted water. He had a little trouble driving them though and we wondered for a while if he would ever make it back to the dock.

This is what Ashlyn did at Wet N' Wild...slept, almost the whole time.

This is what my dad did at Wet N' Wild...read, almost the whole time : ) He was nice enough to sit by Ashlyn so we could go on some rides.

Tyler gets married this week, but since they weren't official yet Carissa stayed at home. I told him to tell her he took a picture with a cute girl in her swimsuit...and he did. And here she is. : )

I liked this picture just because Jenna looks so excited to have some food there is the background. And because you see Brax struggling to get his floaties off. Since we wouldn't take them off he decided to bite holes in them so they deflated. We went through 3 pairs of floaties with him while we were there.

Here is our cute little family all ready for church on Sunday.

Here are all the girls...and Braxton who really wanted to be in the picture too.

What a good looking group of guys. : )

My three little bug-a-boos.

Ashlyn looks kind of shocked to be having her picture taken but still like a little princess. : )

Tim loves when I put ginormous flowers in her hair.

The whole group of us : )

Braxton had never been to the beach before but he seemed to really like it. He even let Tim bury him in the sand. I love how he is looking like "umm...where did my legs go?"

Jace was more than willing to be buried in the sand.

Jace and Brax definitely got the most sun. We would put SPF 50 on them and they didn't burn but they came back so tan.

At the resort they had a kids area with some water slides. The boys had a blast there. He is Brax at the bottom of a slide...

...And here is Jace at the bottom of a slide. He is under the waterfall if you can't find him.

Here is one of the many pools there. Most of them had swim up bars. My stats for the week were pina coladas: 100, diet coke with lime: 150, strawberry daiquiris: 100, and a fun little drink called Miami Vice which was half pina colada, half strawberry daiquiri: 100. All virgin of course. I love tropical drinks : )

Here is Ashlyn doing what we did best, hanging out in the shade. They had some good shady spots around the pools so we could be outside too.

This is the restaurant we ate breakfast in every morning. On the way there from our room we would usually see an iguana or two and Braxton especially loved seeing them. He was always on the lookout for some iguanas and snakes. (yes, we saw a snake too)

This place was so big they had golf carts to take you around if you didn't feel like walking a couple miles a day. Here is Tim and Brax on the back of one.

This was our other mode of transportation, the double stroller which we made into a triple stroller. It was a good workout. There was like 100 lbs of child on there.

All the swimming and playing made for some long days and here is Braxton at dinner after one of them. He just fell asleep in Tim's lap so we put him in Ashlyn's car seat. It was one of our most relaxing meals (If you know Brax you will know why...he isn't really in to sitting still while eating)
Here is Ashlyn ready for dinner on our last night there with the crib she didn't really like behind her.

The fancy shmancy restaurant we ate at our last night there. It was so yummy!

Jace enjoying one of his favorite foods, and using the tablecloth as a napkin. A little earlier in the meal, the waiter came around to get the drink orders. Jace usually got a Sprite but this time when the waiter asked him what he wanted he said " um... I want a diet coke with a lime"

Our parting shot the afternoon we left. That last morning Jace and I got up earlier and went for a walk out on the beach. I was just trying to savor every moment because who knows when I will get to go back. It was great! I highly recommend a tropical vacation to everyone. Oh, and one other favorite part that I didn't get a picture of...girl's afteroon out at the spa with facials and pedicures. I couldn't remember that last time I was so relaxed. It was heavenly...

But now, back to real life. I did get the office/craft room organized yesterday so I am feeling good about that. Then Tyler's wedding is in just a few days so it will be a busy (but fun) week. I am just happy becuase I pulled off the amazing feat of losing enough of my baby weight to be able to fit into my bridesmades skirt. yeah! I hope everyone is doing great!